Page 72 of Can't Help Falling in Love
“I think that as soon as speeches are over, my fake fiancé should take me back to his place so my boyfriend can getreallylucky.”
Will laughed as he closed the distance between them, kissing her with as much restraint as he could, given the audience. “That sounds absolutely perfect.”
Will was glad he’d written his speech down because now, the only thing he could think about was Lexi. He pulled her seat out for her to sit down, meeting his dad’s unhappy gaze. The lines around his eyes were more deep-set than usual, his frown more pronounced. Granddad was chatting with Rachel and seemed oblivious to the tension. Will moved around the table, squeezed Maddie’s shoulder as he leaned down.
“You’ve got this.”
She turned her head slightly. “Let’s hope so.”
The emcee welcomed Jackson Grand to the stage. The crowd immediately quieted when his dad tapped the mic. “Thank you all for coming and celebrating with us tonight.” He lifted the champagne flute he’d brought with him. “Happy birthday, Grand Babies.” The crowd interrupted with applause. His father cut off the response. “This company has always been a part of my life, my makeup. I’ve given it my heart, my time, my energy. Everything.”
Will’s jaw tightened. Like she felt his nerves, Lexi covered his hand on his thigh and squeezed.
“I had a big speech planned out,” his father continued. “All about how proud I am of being part of this company and this family.”
Will’s stomach tensed.
“Family is an important thing, and those connections and bonds matter even more when you’re in business together. Trusting and relying on any co-workers matters to a company’s success. You would think that working with family would ensure a built-in trust. That there wouldn’t be secrets and behind-the-scenes conversations and decisions you have no part in. The kind of decisions that change a man’s course. And yet, tonight as I wish my father a congratulations on fifty years of running a company, I’m also, regrettably, acknowledging I didn’t hold the place in it I thought I did. The future of Grand Babies is not in my hands. And it won’t be in my father’s either. My daughter Madeline Grand-West will be stepping into his very large shoes. And I, after twenty years of working there, am stepping down.”
Will’s heart plummeted into his gut even before he saw the shocked and saddened faces of his grandparents.
He wasn’t a pessimist but even he should have thought, with everything that had been going so well, something was bound to go wrong.
Thirty
Lexi stood on her back porch, wrapped in an old gray robe, her mom’s slippers on her feet. The Pacific Northwest sunrise was worth not being able to sleep the night before. The mug of coffee was warming her hands even as the caffeine brought her senses slowly awake.
Last night had been… surreal. And hard. When she snuck out of bed this morning, she’d stared at Will, his face relaxed in sleep even though he’d had a hard time finding it. A little piece of her had giggled over the fact that she had a boy—aman—in her childhood bed. The more mature part of her had urged her to make coffee.
As she sipped, she thought about how the party had taken a deep dive off an awkward-as-hell cliff after Jackson Grand made his declaration. He and his father had argued, Will’s grandpa walking out. Maddie, proving herself without prompting, followed her dad’s speech with an apology, made a couple of jokes, and asked people to focus on celebrating and enjoying the eight-tiered birthday cake, before she promptly left. Will and Lexi had followed suit, dropping Kyra off on their way to Lexi’s.
“Hey,” Gwen said, joining her on the porch with her own cup of coffee. She sank into one of the weathered Adirondack chairs.
Lexi turned against the porch post, smiling at her mom, who curled her feet under her in the chair. “Good morning.”
“How was last night?”
“Amazing. Incredible. Fun. Awkward.”
Her mom paused, cup almost to her lips. “The first three sound good.”
Lexi quickly filled her in on the events of the evening. Her mom’s quiet eyes widened. “Wow. That must have been hard on everyone.”
Lexi nodded, thinking about how hard it was onWill. She hated that discord within his family for him. She knew how draining it could be to not see eye-to-eye on something with a parent. To feel responsible. To fail at finding a way to fix things.
“Am I interrupting?” Will stood in the open doorway between the porch and the kitchen. His hair was mussed, his expression sleepy, his smile soft, and Lexi’s heart lurched painfully against the wall of her chest like it was trying to claim him, sayingmine.
“Not at all,” Gwen said, looking up with a kind smile. “There’s coffee.”
“You’re wonderful,” Will said, his voice full of gratitude as he turned back toward the kitchen.
“I made it,” Lexi called after him, making her mom laugh.
“You’re wonderful too, honey,” Will called.
Laughing into her coffee, Lexi caught her mother’s gaze, more astute than it should be for this early in the morning.
“He’s good for you, sweetheart.”
